Flathead Valley Community College Liberal Arts and General Studies (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
- Public college
- Kalispell, MT
- About 115 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Flathead Valley Community College liberal arts and general studies graduates earn about what liberal arts and general studies graduates earn nationally, $30,079 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $11,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $10,864. Several Montana programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Montana and national columns are the medians across all liberal arts and general studies associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Flathead Valley Community College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $4,194 more than the Montana median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Montana liberal arts and general studies program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Montana medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 49% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned slightly more in their first year than other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $117 a month, or 4.7% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
86% of graduates (87 of 101) were working in Montana one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Montana outside metro areas are about 8% below the national average, so a $30,079 salary here buys what about $32,831 buys in a typical US city.
About Flathead Valley Community College
Liberal Arts and General Studies ranks 4th of 4 associate's programs at Flathead Valley Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($71,348), Welding and Machining ($43,711), and Allied Health and Medical Assisting ($38,335).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $30,079 one year after graduating and $44,781 five years after. The median across liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in Montana is $30,794.
The median federal loan balance is $11,000, which ranks the lowest of 5 liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in Montana. That works out to about $117 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 37% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 38%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Montana programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 86% (87 of 101) were working in Montana one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Montana comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the liberal arts and general studies program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024